Jeff Neumann

Planning a safari anytime soon? If so, you might want to check out the results of a new study in the journal Public Library of Science ONE before you go. The extensive research shows that African lions are far more likely to eat you after dusk on the day following a full moon. Or, in more scientific terms, lions are more successful at "carcass acquisition" just after a full moon:

[V]ictims were significantly more likely to be attacked during the darkest days of the [lunar] cycle during five separate hours of night as well as during the darkest parts of the night as a whole. Because lions mostly attack in total darkness and nearly 60% of victims were attacked between 18:00 and 21:45, attack rates varied strikingly with the phase of the moon.